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Hillsboro cookie maker Martin Fent would have to sell about 10,000 Uncle Marty’s Cookies to pay a $2,000 debt he racked up for his alleged “abuse” of “assist only” ambulance calls to Marion County Emergency Medical Services.

Fent doesn’t have 10,000 cookies and or anything else with which to pay the bill.

His bill stems from a number of ambulance runs where EMTs and firefighters assisted him back into his wheelchair after he had fallen.

Correspondence provided by Fent from EMS said “assist only” runs were billed $400 each after two free runs within a 60-day period.

Fent, however, did receive a couple extra gratis runs since his calls happened so close together.

“Insurance companies do not pay for this type of ambulance call,” an EMS letter said, “They consider them ‘not medically necessary’.”

EMS informed him that “assist only” bills were his responsibility to settle, and Fent said sometimes bills came with “nasty little notes.” Letters said his bill was a result of his “abuse” of “assist only” calls.

“I’m sure there are people who do abuse the service, but I was in no way abusing it,” Fent said. “I informed them of my extenuating circumstances and I understand the policy, but I don’t understand them accusing me of continuing to ‘abuse’ their service.”

Michelle Avis owns the house Fent lives in and is his former girlfriend.

“Are you supposed to be scared of pushing your [Life Alert] button,” Avis said. “What about elderly people? I have an aunt who uses the service, too. The people on the phone say, ‘if you ever need anything just push your button.’”

Fent understood that every time EMS provided him an “assist only” call, they couldn’t take other calls, but said he had no other options at the time.

Charges amassed after he made five calls to EMS June and four more in August.

After one call, Fent said an EMS woman told him he should get rid of his dog, but he refuses to ditch Oatmeal.

After August calls, Fent obtained a new chair with appropriately calibrated suspension, and now he has friends living nearby that can help.

Fent said he recently spoke with new EMS director Brandy McCarty, but did not enter into a payment agreement because he wants to speak to the EMS board about his predicament in hopes of alleviating charges.

“She graciously told me that we could put everything on hold until the January meeting,” Fent said.

McCarty was contacted for this article, but did not respond by press time.